ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED AT CHESTER, 



BEFORE THE 



Jfi^ioHe^l Socieiu of f^i}i}^^\b^k\ 



On tlie 8th of November, 1851. 




BY EDWARD ARMSTRONG 
Recording Secretary of the Sociely. 



CELEBRATION OP THE ONE HUNDKED AND BIXTI-SINTH ANNIVER8AKT OF IDE LANDIKO OF 
•WIILIAM PENN AT THAT PLACE. 




PHILADELPHIA : 
PUBLISHED BY J. PENINGTO>f, No. 10 SOUTH FIFTH ST. 

KINO « BAIRD, PR|INTGR8. 

1852. 



HIBRARY OF CONGRESST 

# 

f [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] f 

$ s 

i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



1 



AN ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED AT CHESTER, 



%J * 



BEFORE THE 



Jfi^foHc^l §ocieil) of ^e^^^ljlbiii]^; 



On the 8th of November, 1851. 




BY EDWARD ARMSTRONG, 

Jlecording Secretary oftlie Society. 



CELEBRATION OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTy-NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDING OP 
■WILLIAM PENN AT THAT PLACE. 









PHILADELPHIA : 
PUBLISHED BY J. PENINQTON, No. 10 SOUTH FIFTH ST. 

KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS. 
1852. 



Hall op the Historical Society, 

Philadelphia, Nov. 25th, 1851. 



Dear Sir : 



We have been appointed a Committee to request of you for publication, a 
copy of your excellent and highly instructive Address, delivered at Chester, on 
the 8th instant, at the Celebration, by the Historical Society, of the One hundred 
and sixty-ninth Anniversary of the Landing of William Penn, at that place. 

We remain, very truly, yours, 

HORATIO G. JONES, Jr. 

WILLIAM DUANE, 

GEORGE NORTHROP, 

JOHN JORDAN, Jr. 
iiDWARD Armstrong, Esq. 



South Fourth Street, 

November 26th, 185L 



Gentlemen : 



I feel much obliged for the kind, though undeserved terms in which you are 
pleased to speak of my Address at Chester, delivered in commemoration of the 
landing of our Pounder. 

I place the manuscript at your disposal, and trust that this compliance with 
your request, may tend to remind us of the occasion and lead to the regular and 
renewed celebration of a day the most memorable in our earlier annals, and of 
which every true-hearted Pennsylvanian has so much reason to be proud. 

I remain, yours, very truly, 

EDWARD ARMSTRONG. 
To 

Horatio G. Jones, Jr. 

William Duane, 

George Northrop, and 

John Jordan, Jr. Esqrs. 






ADDRESS. 

Gentlemen of the Historical Society : 

In the month of October, 1681, within the walls of an 
ancient mansion in Old England, might have been seen two 
persons in earnest conference. The one, although some 
twenty years the senior of the other, felt evidently not the 
less respect for the well-tempered enthusiasm, the hopeful 
spirit, and admirably balanced judgment of his companion. 
Republicans from principle, the sufferings they had undergone 
had made them republicans from choice. 

Algernon Sidney had come down from Penshurst to confer 
with William Penn, at Worminghurst, and frame the constitu- 
of a great State. A constitution, which through all time was 
to become the argument unanswerable, for the Divine right 
of the people, all over the world. Hear some of the results 
of their deliberations : — "Any government is free to the peo- 
ple under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule, and 
the people are party to those laws, and more than this is 
tyranny, oligarchy, and confusion. . . . Governments, 
like clocks, go from the motion men give them ; and as 
governments are made and moved by men, so by them they 
are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon 
men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and 
the government cannot be bad : if it be ill, they will cure it. 
But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they 
will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn. Some say, 
let us have good laws, and no matter for the men that execute 
them : but let them consider, that though good laws do well, 
good men do better : for good laws may want good men, and 
be abolished or invaded by ill men ; but good men will never 
want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. . . . That therefore 



which makes a good constitution, must keep it, viz : men of 
■wisdom and virtue, qualities that because they descend not 
with worldly inheritances, must be carefully propagated by a 
virtuous education of youth, for which after ages will owe 
more to the care and prudence of founders, and the successive 
magistracy, than to their parents for their private patri- 
monies. . . . The great end of all government is to sup- 
port power in reverence with the people, and to secure the peo- 
ple from the abuse of power ; that they may be free by their 
just obedience, and the magistrates honorable for their just 
administration : for liberty without obedience is confusion, 
and obedience without liberty is slavery. To carry this even- 
ness is partly owing to the constitution, and partly to the 
magistracy: where either of these fail, government will be 
subject to convulsions ; but where both are wanting, it must 
be totally subverted ; then where both meet, the government is 
like to endure. Which I humbly pray and hope, God will 
please to make the lot of Pennsylvania."* 

How nobly uttered. Truths in 1681, which, by the con- 
firmation of millions in 1851, have been proved great, practi- 
cal, imperishable. 

Justice cannot be done the character of Penn, unless we 
view it in contrast with the age in which he lived. He 
foresaw the progress of freedom, and displayed no less 
courage, than sagacity. For the doctrines we have just 
quoted, were the terror of the very king from whom he 
received his charter ; their practical enforcement overturned 
the throne of his father, and were the warrant for his trial 
and execution ; and yet they were published and avowed by 
Penn ; and framed, with the assistance of the lamented Sid- 
ney, whose life the government had then determined, if possi- 
ble, to take, and who, two years afterwards, for asserting 
upon paper the same principles of republican liberty, perished 
on the scaffold. Perhaps no branch of inquiry has been so 
much the subject of theory as the science of government. 
But few of those who have thought or written^about it, have 

* Preface to Frame of Government. 1 Col. Kec. xxiii. 



had the misfortune to suffer, to the full extent, the Infliction 
of the evils they strove to remedy, or the good fortune to 
realize their cherished speculations. Penn had both. A 
Charles was on the throne ; Locke had not written his glori- 
ous letters on toleration ; the Revolution had not taken place ; 
the people, benumbed, as it were, by the political convulsions 
through which they had just passed, slumbered, so that no 
oppression, however enormous, seemed sufficient to arouse 
them. Our Proprietary was therefore eminently fitted for 
the task which Providence had assigned him. Mark, how 
broadly he lays the foundations of religious freedom. " That 
all persons living in this province, who confess and acknowl- 
edge the one Almighty and Eternal God, to be the Creator, 
Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and that hold themselves 
obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly In civil 
society, shall in no ways be molested or prejudiced for their 
religious persuasion or practice, in matters of faith and wor- 
ship, nor shall they be compelled at any time, to frequent or 
maintain any religious worship, place or ministry whatever." 

Nor did he overlook that general political liberty, which is 
the corner-stone of religious liberty ; he felt, in the words 
already quoted, "that government only could be free, where 
the Uws ruled, and the people were party to those laws." 

Locke, his friend, attempted to frame a constitution for a 
sister republic, but how immeasurably inferior to Penn's. 
Based on false principles, cumbrous and oppressive. It perished 
at its birth, while Penn's has flourished in immortal youth, 
as obvious, sensible, just, and practical now, as when It was 
given to the people. The modifications it has undergone 
since 1681, to the present period, have been but emanations 
of its original principles, the growth of a vigorous trunk, 
the result of progress, subject of course to that admirable 
qualification in the first charter, and to which we have re- 
ferred, " that although good laws may want good men, and be 
abolished, or invaded, by ill men, good men will never 
want good laws, nor suffer ill ones, for liberty without obedi- 
ence, is confusion, and obedience without liberty. Is slavery." 



6 

Penn's mind had early been directed to the study of 
political constitutions ; for we are told, by himself, that at the 
age of seventeen, and when at Oxford, during the period of a 
change in his religious views, his attention had been turned to 
America, in the hope of founding a colony — to use his own 
words, " that his understanding and inclinations had been 
much directed to obser\^e and reprove mischiefs in govern- 
ment." There is no doubt the conviction forced itself upon 
a mind matured beyond its years, that the soil of England 
was unfriendly to the growth of the religious and political 
freedom he and his friends sought to implant. That in a new 
region only, unincumbered with the claims of prerogative 
and ecclesiastical power, useless customs and sturdy pre- 
judices, could they flourish. It appears that the Friends, 
even prior to the period to which Penn alludes, had fixed 
their eyes upon this continent. Bowden, in his History of 
Friends in America,* (and we do not recollect that the cir- 
cumstance has been stated by any of our writers,) says, " the 
Quakers early had their attention drawn to the promotion of 
a colony in America. The whole coast from Maine to 
Florida, having either been colonized or claimed by parties 
for that purpose, it was no easy matter to obtain land for the 
foundation of a Quaker settlement." Josiah Cole, "who had 
travelled extensively as a gospel minister in America, and 
particularly among the Indians of the interior, on his second 
visit to that country, in 1660, appears to have been commis- 
sioned by his brethren at home, to treat with the Susquehanna 
Indians, (whom he had visited about two years before) for the 
purchase of land. For this purpose he had interviews with 
them, but their being at that time involved in a deadly war 
with some neighboring tribes, together with the absence of 
William Fuller, (a Friend of considerable influence,) in Mary- 
land, and who had, it appears, taken some step on the 
subject, presented an insurmountable obstacle to any progress 
in the matter at that time." 

Penn's connection with the afiairs of the Colony of New 
* Vol. 1, pp. 389-390. 



Jersey, was the first practical direction his mind received 
upon the subject of legislation. The constitution which he 
assisted in framing for West New Jersey, displays enlarged 
views of government, and would of itself be sufficient to 
rescue his memory from neglect. But the result of his reflec- 
tions and experience was soon to be exhibited on a wider 
fiield, free from conflicting rights and interests. It was the 
knowledge of these advantages, and his devotion to the 
principles of his society, that induced so many to gather 
around him, and which made his colony prosperous beyond 
example on our shores. And the respect his constancy had 
won, amidst temptations that would have allured one less 
deeply impressed with the greatness of his purpose, abated 
opposition at the hands of those who might have thwarted 
him had they been disposed. His colonists knew him to be 
sincere, the government believed him to be honest. It is a 
question, therefore, whether under the peculiar condition of 
the times, any other than Penn would have been enabled to 
establish a colony at once so prosperous, if the King had 
been willing to confer upon any other a charter so liberal. 

It may not be out of place, before proceeding further, to 
glance at the history of the Dutch and Swedish colonies, and 
more particularly in this region, rendered so interesting to us, 
as the spot on which Penn first trod the soil of Pennsylvania. 

The Dutch claim to have discovered and occupied our Bay 
as early as 1598.* 

Hudson certainly visited it in 1609 — though it is not known 
that he landed — and was followed by Mey, who on behalf of 
" certain merchants interested in maritime discovery," and 
under authority of the States General, set sail from Holland 
with five vessels, and in 1618 arrived at Delaware Bay giving 
a name to its eastern cape, which it has retained to this day. 
Mey and his companions, with the exception of Captain Hen- 
drickson, returned to Holland, the latter remained, and in a 

* We are indebted for the materials of this sketch of the History, prior 
to Penn's arrival, of the Swedes and Dutch, to Mr. Hazard's valuable 
"Annals of Pennsylvania." 



8 

yacht of but 16 tons burden, built at Manhattan, and sup- 
posed to have been the first vessel constructed in this country 
by Europeans, was the first to explore our Bay and River, 
which he ascended as high as the Schuylkill. 

Hendrickson returned to Holland, and claimed, apparently 
without success, the privileges attendant upon his discovery. 

The establishment in 1621, of the Dutch West India Com- 
pany, led to active preparations for peopling the Bay and 
River. 

Mey returned to the Delaware, and in 1623, made the first 
settlement upon it, by the erection of Fort Nassau, at or near 
the site of the present town of Gloucester. 

In 1626, Gustavus Adolphus conferred a charter upon the 
Swedish West India Company. No immediate result followed 
his liberal grant of powers. 

The first purchase of the Indians of land, in this region, 
was made in 1633, for the Dutch West India Company by 
Arent Corssen, Commissary of Fort Nassau, to whom was 
conveyed "the Schuylkill and adjoining lands" and on which 
was afterwards erected Fort Beversrede. 

The period had now arrived when the possession of our Bay 
and River was to become a matter of serious dispute. The 
attention of the Swedish West India Company appears at last 
to have been aroused to the advantage of its trade and settle- 
ment, from the flattering representations of Minuit, who having 
resided at Manhattan, as Director of the Dutch West India 
Company, became dissatisfied, and deserted their interests. 

In April, 1638, a date which the industry of Mr. Hazard, 
has at length settled, Minuit accompanied by about 50 Swedes 
arrived here, and built (near the site of Wilmington) Fort 
Christina, which became the subject of after conflicts and the 
scene of the surrender of the Swedish authority to that of the 
Dutch, and of the latter to the arms of England. 

One of the first acts of the Swedes was to purchase of the 
Indians the lands from Cape Henlopen to the falls at Trenton, 
a portion of which, however, had been already sold by them 
to the Dutch. 



The Dutch, at Fort Nassau, soon began to feel their trade 
was seriously affected by the success of their rivals, who had 
gained it by their liberal conduct towards the Indians. They 
did not know, however, in what way to rid themselves of their 
troublesome neighbors. 

Two years after the coming of the Swedes, a fresh annoy- 
ance to both nations arose, from the arrival of a colony of 
English from New Haven, which established itself at the 
Schuylkill, upon the very land the Dutch had bought of the 
Indians. This could not be endured. I quote from the do- 
cument issued by the Director General and Council at Man- 
hattan : " It Avas an affair of ominous consequence, disrespect- 
ful of their High Mightinesses, injurious to the interests of 
the Company, as by it their commerce on the South Eiver 
might be eventually ruined, and that it was their duty to drive 
these English from thence, in the best manner possible." 
What construction the Commissary at Fort Nassau put upon 
the directions he in consequence received, history was not 
permitted to record, for Gov. Kieft deeming the best, the most 
effectual manner, "by force and in a hostile way," (as the 
English declare,) " burnt their trading house, seized, and for 
some time detained their goods in it, not suffering their ser- 
vants so much as to take a just inventory of them." The 
Swedes completed what the Dutch permitted to remain undone, 
and so ended the adventures of the New Haven Colony on 
the Schuylkill. It might be interesting to speculate as to re- 
sults, had the English achieved a settlement. Another destiny, 
in that event, perhaps not the less auspicious to freedom 
and civil rights, might have befallen this region, but a more 
liberal charter of privileges, and a nobler liberty of religious 
opinions, could not have been their lot. 

The year succeeding that which sealed the fate of the 
English colonists, marked the advent of Governor Printz, a 
favorite of his Queen, and the most energetic and capable of 
the Swedish governors. 

In person he is described as very bulky — for, De Vries as- 
serts, " he weighed upwards of four hundred pounds, and 



10 

drank three drinks at every meal," apparently regretting he 
could not be punished for this indulgence of his taste. 
De Vries, however, was not in the best humor, as he had 
been fired at, upon passing Fort Elsinburg, then just erected 
near the present site of Salem. It has been suggested it was 
not Printz, but a relation, to whom De Vries alludes, as the 
Governor would not likely forsake his residence to command 
this remote post. 

We fear it will not be so easy to defend Printz from a 
more serious charge : for it is stated that a Mr. Lamberton, 
having been sent to remonstrate, and to claim satisfaction for 
the injuries done to the New Haven colony, "the Governor 
demeaned himself as if he had neither Christian nor moral 
conscience ; getting Mr. Lamberton into his power, by feigned 
and false pretences, and keeping him prisoner, and some of 
his men. Laboring, by promises and threats, to draw them 
to accuse him to have conspired with the Indians to cut off 
the Swedes and the Dutch ; and not prevailing these ways, 
then by attempting to make them drink, so that he might 
draw something from them. And in the end, (though he 
could gain no testimony,) yet he forced him to pay a weight 
of beaver before he would set him at liberty. He is also a 
man very furious and passionate ; reviling the English at New 
Haven as runagates, &c., and he himself, with his own hands, 
put irons on one of Mr. Lamberton's men." 

The testimony of another witness is to this eflFect : " That 
John Woolen told him, that at ids, the said Woolen's, first 
coming into the Swede's fort, he was brought into a room 
in which the Governor's wife, Timothy the barber, and the 
■watch-master came to him, and brought wine and strong beer, 
and gave him, with a purpose, as he conceived, to have made 
him drunk ; and after he had largely drunk there, the 
Governor sent for him into his own chamber, and gave him 
more strong beer and wine, and drank freely with him, enter- 
taining of him with much respect seemingly, and with a pro- 
fession of a great deal of love to him, making very large 
promises to do very much good for him, if he would but say 



11 

that George Lamberton had hired the Indians to cut off the 
Swedes. But the said John Woolen denied it. Then the 
Governor drank to him again, and said he would make him a 
man, give him a plantation, and build him a house, and he 
should not want for gold and silver, if he would but say as is 
said before. He would do more for him than the English 
could, for he loved him as his own child. But the said John 
answered that there was no such thing, and if he would give 
him his house full of gold, he would not say so. And then 
the Governor seemed to be exceeding angry, and threatened 
him very much, and after that drank to him again, and 
pressed him to confess, as before; which the said John 
Woolen refusing, the Governor was much enraged, and 
stamped with his feet, (which this deponent himself heard) 
being in the room under him,) and calling for irons, he put 
them upon the said John Woolen with his own hands, and 
sent him down to prison, as before is expressed. And this 
deponent saith, that the aforesaid Swedes' watch-master came 
into the prison, and brought strong beer, and drank with 
them about two hours in the night, and pressed the said John 
Woolen to say that the said George Lamberton had hired the 
Indians to cut off the Swedes, and he should be loosed from 
his irons presently ; but John Woolen said he would not say 
it, if he should be hanged, drawn and quartered, because he 
would not take away the life of a man that was' innocent. 
Then he pressed him further, that he would speak any thing 
to that purpose, be it never so little, and he should be free 
presently ; but John Woolen said he could not say it, nor he 
would not say it. And he further saith, that the said 
watch-master pressed him, this deponent, to the same purpose, 
and he should have his liberty, which he also refused, know- 
ing no such thing. This deponent saith, that at another time, 
while he was in prison, Gregory, the merchants' man, came 
to him, and told him they were sent by the Governor to 
charge him with treason, which he had spoken against the 
Queen and lords of Sweden, namely, that he had wished them 
burned and hanged, which be, this deponent, utterly denied ; 



12 

and then the said Gregory fetched a flagon of strong beer, 
and drank it with him, and after that fetched the said flagon 
full of sack, and drank that with him also, and bid him call 
for wine and strong beer when he listed, and questioned with 
him about George Lamberton's hirino; the Indians as afore- 
said : his answer was, he knew no such thing." 

If this account is not too highly colored, and the Governor 
was inclined to something more than an excessive hospitality, 
his pertinacity was equalled only by his victims' superior 
powers of resistance to temptation, and their honest fortitude. 
To us this narration gives a more vivid idea of the condition 
of things, and the policy at that time of the rule upon the 
Delaware, than could be presented by the most labored de- 
scription. 

Fort Christina being too far from Fort Nassau, Printz, 
with much sagacity, erected Fort Gottenberg, (near the La- 
zaretto,) on the island of Tinicum, and thus no little annoyed 
his neighbors, and acquired much additional control of the 
river. He also here built Printz Hall, or the ^^ palace,^' as 
it was called, which was standing at the beginning of this 
century, and it will be recollected became the scene of many 
incidents in Swedish history. 

In 1643, he turned his attention to fortifying the avenues 
of the Schuylkill, in order to obtain the trade of the Indians 
at Kingsessing, which the Dutch had secured by the erection 
of Fort Beversrede. For this purpose he built a fort upon 
the Schuylkill near, it is supposed, the site of Bartram's Gar- 
den, also a mill and a block house, which it is thought were 
situated on Cobbs' creek, near the Blue Bell. 

Kieft was, in 1647, succeeded at New Amsterdam by 
Stuyvesant, and Printz in 1653 by Rysingh, under whose 
administrations the closing scenes of the existence of their 
respective governments were to be enacted. 

Rysingh, in coming up the river, captured from the Dutch 
Fort Casimir, (which stood upon the site of New Castle,) a 
fatal act, in violation of his instructions, and which precipi- 
tated the downfall of the Swedish power upon the Delaware. 



13 

It is gratifying to be able to say, that this error of judgment, 
■was mitigated by a wise stroke of domestic policy, for although 
we may condemn the soldier, we must commend the citizen ; 
and I am sure, the character of the last Swedish Governor 
will, in the eyes of many of my audience, stand greatly 
redeemed, when I inform them that one of his first official 
acts was, a letter which he addressed to the Minister of Swe- 
den, in which he says, " I pray your Excellency to procure 
for me a good wife, relying for this object upon your Excel- 
lency, with more confidence than on any other person in the 
world." 

I do not know whether his wish was accomplished, or if 
gratified, whether he had reason to regret his Excellency's 
choice, but the commission displays more confidence in 
another's judgment, than is generally reposed in these de- 
generate days. 

Stuyvesant having seized a Swedish ship, which, bound for 
the Delaware, by mistake put into the North river, sought 
to retaliate the loss of Fort Casimir, or secure its restoration. 
Tedious negotiations ensued, in the course of which, the 
Dutch invites the Swedish Governor to visit New Amsterdam, 
assuring him he will "receive a cordial reception, with com- 
fortable lodgings and courteous treatment to his full satisfac- 
tion, without the least embarrassment to his honor and suite, 
goods or vessels." 

Rysingh did not accept this invitation, and as Mr. Hazard 
suggests, probably found his lodgings equally comfortable at 
Eort Casimir. We may readily imagine the gleam of satis- 
faction that passed over the face of the shrewd Dutch Go- 
vernor as he despatched this invitation, and the smile of 
perfect contentment, which illuminated that of his rival, 
when he received it. Stratagem failing, Stuyvesant resorted 
to more active measures, and with his usual vigor and 
decision, at once and with secrecy, began to make arrange- 
ments for a descent upon the Delaware. With seven ves- 
sels and six or seven hundred men, he retakes Fort Casi- 
mir, and proceeds to Fort Christina, which cost him fourteen 
days of preparation, before he accomplished his purpose, al- 



14 

though its garrison was weak, and might have been compelled 
to a surrender in as many hours. A record of the movements 
of the assailing party, was preserved by Rysingh, from which 
it appears, that the gradual approaches of Stuyvesant, were 
made with great military precision and immense ceremony. 
" On the second day," he says, " the Dutch sJioived them- 
selves in considerable numbers on the opposite bank of 
creek, but attempted no hostile operations ; on the third they 
hoisted their flag on our shallop ; on the fourth they planted 
gabions and so forth ; they now began to encroach upon us 
more and more every day ; on the fourteenth day, having 
nearly completed their works, they brought the guns of all 
their batteries to bear upon us." We are satisfied that 
Rysingh's patience must have at last become exhausted, and 
believe, although no document records it, that he more than 
once exclaimed, " If you intend to take me, why dont you, and 
have an end of it !" Christina subdued, Gottenberg soon 
fell, and with it the Swedish power on the Delaware, without 
the loss of blood on either side. 

The Directors in Holland compliment Stuyvesant for his 
conduct, but regret that the articles of capitulation should 
have been reduced to writing ; they think he should have fol- 
lowed the example of the Swedes when they seized Fort Casi- 
mir ; their reasons are in these words and are very significant. 
" That all which is written and copied is too long preserved, 
and may sometimes, when it is neither desired nor expected, 
he brought forward ; whereas words not recorded, are by 
length of time forgotten, or may be explained, construed, or 
excused as circumstances may require." 

The enjoyment of their conquest was brief. The Dutch 
were compelled to surrender to the English, and although the 
former became repossessed, the colonies reverted to the latter, 
under the treaty of Westminster. It was a very gentle afi'air 
with both parties, for notwithstanding Stuyvesant thought of 
resistance, yet fearing, as he remarks, the spilling of innocent 
blood, quietly surrenders to NichoUs, who declares himself 
equally actuated by the same humane motive. 



15 

The early history of Upland or Chester, deserves some 
attention at our hands on this interesting occasion. Upland, 
as we are aware, took its name from a Province on the Gulf 
of Bothnia, the birth place probably of some of the colonists. 
The Indians, says Campanius, called it Mecoponacka, and 
shortly after its settlement, the same author asserts, it pos- 
sessed a Fort. More probably, as a late writer* suggests, 
and as no reference is made to it by any other chronicler, a 
strong house, or block house — a description of defence never 
neglected at that period in the settlements upon our river. 
It is likely Campanius has confounded it with Fort Oplandt, 
erected by De Vries, in 1631, at the site of the present town 
of Lewes. 

"We find Upland mentioned as early as 1648, and allusion 
is made to its having previously been possessed by the Swedes. 
Whether under title from the Indians, by special grant for 
this particular district, or by grant from Christina, does not 
appear. If by purchase from the Indians, it was doubtless 
subsequently confirmed, or re-granted by the Swedish Queen ; 
although very little is known of the extent to which patents 
were conferred by the Swedish Government. Chesterf and 

* " Ferris' History of the original settlements on the Delaware." 
j- The territory extending from Chester to the Neshaminy, was settled at 
a very early day. How early in every instance, it would, perhaps, now be 
impossible to say, much earlier doubtless than the dates of the respective 
grants. The patents were generally designated by the Indian name, most 
predominant within their limits. 

The site of Philadelphia was granted to the Swansons as early as 1664, 
by patent from Stuyvesant, though it is not improbable that they were in 
ownership prior to that date. In March, 1675, Walter Wharton' surveyed 
to Jurian Hartsfelder,^ the tract of 350 acres, called •' Hartsfield," (the 
present Northern Liberties,) which was embraced between a small run 
called Cooahqusnauque on the south, and Cohocksink creek on the north. 



' The information in this note was principally derived from a book of surveys, by Walter 
Whai'ton, in the Surveyor General's Office, at Harrisburgh. Wharton was appointed by 
Lovelace, in 1671, "Surveyor General on the West side of Delaware," and dying in 1679 was 
succeeded by Kichard Noble, as "Surveyor of Upland." 

*The minutes of the Commissioners of property, at Harrisburgh, state under date of 10th, 
11th month, 1690-1, that the widow of Jurian Hartsfield, had married Humphrey Edwards. 
We regret so little is known of the former owner of this large tract. 



16 

its neighborhood would seem to have been granted to six in- 
habitants, for in 1678, a conveyance was made by Hans 
Juriansen Kien, of Taokonink, (Tacony) to his brother Jonas 
Juriansen Kien, of two hundred acres in " Upland town, or 

In 1664, Peter Cox acquired the title to six hundred acres on the river, 
above Cohocksink creek ; and in 1675, a grant of sixteen hundred acresi 
called " Shaxamaxunk," (in which this six hundred was included) was made 
to Gunner Rambo, Erick and Otto Ernest Cox, Michael and Peter Neilson, 
six Swedes. It stretched a distance of three miles up the Delaware, from 
the mouth of Cohocksink creek, to a point rather above the shoal of Petty's 
Island, and averaged a mile in width. 

In the same year (1675) Peter Cox acquired six hundred and fifty acres 
between the northern boundary of the Shakamaxon patent, and the south 
side of Frankford Creek. This was called Quessina-ivomink, which was also 
the Indian name of Frankford Creek. 

In the same year, Erick Mullock, Ole Neilson, and Christian Thomason, 
all Swedes, purchased nine hundred and fifty acres immediately north of the 
last named grant, lying on the river between Frankford and SissowoMssink 
creeks, which we take to be the present Wissinoming. This was called the 
" Tawocau-omink" (Tacony) patent. 

Also in the same year, Peter Peterson and Jasper Fish, purchased five 
hundred acres on the river, and on the south side of Pemmeepakha creek, 
which was called the Pemmeepacka patent, and which with three hundred 
acres previously bought by Michael Fredericks, immediately adjoining the 
last grant on the south, probably embraced all the land, between the Pene- 
pack and Tacony patents, a portion of these tracts had eight years before 
been granted to Andrew Carr. 

In 1678, there was surveyed to Peter Rambo, Jr., a tract called "Rams- 
dorp," extending from the Pennepack north-eastwardly, fifty perches along 
the Delaware, and which contained three hundred acres. In the preceding 
year, (1677) warrants were issued to Ephraim Herman, Pelle Rambo and 
Captain Hans Moens for three hundred each, (making nine hundred acres) 
and in 1678 to Ephraim Herman, (who in the following year relinquished 
his right to Laers Laersen) for the remainder of the land, between the 
Pennepack and Poquessink. We have now reached, as it is difiTei-ently 
named in ancient records, the Poatquesstnk, Poaquessink, and Paequessink. 

James Sanderlands, and Lawrence Cox, under a siirvey of 1678, (and who 
in the year succeeding transfer their interest to Walter, John and Francis 
Forrest) acquire title to the ^^ Poquessink" patent of 417 acres, which in one 
direction extended from Poquessink north-eastwardly, one mile along the 
Delaware. 

Immediately adjoining on the north of this last mentioned patent, stretch- 
ing along the river, nearly half a mile, was surveyed to Henry Hastings, the 



17 

neigliborhood," to whom with five others, twelve hundred acres 
had been granted by the English government at New York. 

The names of the other grantees we have not ascertained. 
Neeles Mattsen and James Sandilands were doubtless two of 
them. It was the policy of the English government, to grant 
lands in a body to at least six persons, as it had been that of 
the Dutch, to a community of at least sixteen. 

There can be no question that this was but a patent of 
confirmation, not an original grant, and that the same land 
had been granted, or very likely confirmed, to the Swedish 
settlers by Dutch patents, from Stuy vesant or his predecessors. 
The history of the title to Finland, afterwards called Mar- 
ritties Hook, and subsequently Marcus Hook, may throw 
some light on the inquiry. This last name was, by the re- 
quest of its inhabitants, and under a grant from Markham, 
in April, 1682, changed to Chichester,* which it still bears. 

In 1653, Queen Christina granted the region of Marcus 
Hook, as far as Upland Kill, to Captain Besk, for his faithful 
services on behalf of the colony. And in 1676, Andross 
confirmed the lands of Marrities' Hook, amounting to one 
thousand acres, to the six possessors thereof, Charles Jansen, 
Oele Raessen, Hans Oolsen, Oole Neelsen, Hans Hofi"man, 
and Jan Hendricksen. This whole vicinity appears at that 
time to have been in the possession of but a few persons, and 
their tenants or dependents. 

Upland was not, however, wholly occupied by the Swedes, 

^^ Easting's Hope" containing two hundred acres.' Dunk Williams, Jean 
Claassen, Paerdi- Cooper, Pelle Dalbo, Lace Cox, Thomas Jacobs, Wm. 
Jeacox, purchase, in the years 1677 and 1678, on the Neshaminy and in its 
■vicinity. So that the whole of this region was in the hands of settlers, 
mostly Swedes, some time before Penn's arrival. 
* Ptecords at West Chester. 



' Pennepack and Poquessink are mentioned by Campanius, as Indian villages, in each of 
which presided a Chief or Sachem. Their location has long ago been lost, even to tradition, 
but was probably near the river and on the streams which still bear these names. The 
discovery of Indian utensils and implements collected beneath the soil, may some day 
indicate their site. 



18 

for we discover that Robert Wade, who, in 1675, came with 
Fenwick's colony to Salem, proceeded to this place, where, 
in the same year, he built a house, which he called the " Essex 
House," and which stood until about the period of the Revo- 
lution. Its site must ever remain an interesting spot to 
Pennsylvanians, as the place where our Founder was first 
met and entertained within our borders. 

Wade and Sandilands were the largest owners of land in 
this vicinity. The former held three hundred and sixty acres 
upon the southern side of Chester creek, and Sandilands was 
a large proprietor on its northern side. 

Wade was a justice of the peace, under the government of 
the Duke of York, and that of Penn; the highest judicial 
oflBce known at that period, or until some time after the es- 
tablishment of the government under the Proprietary, and to 
which belonged not only a supervisory power over the morals 
and affairs of the country, but which combined, in miniature, 
as well the powers of judge as chancellor. He also was a 
minister in his Society, much valued by Penn, and perhaps 
the most prominent man in the province at that time. He 
died much lamented, in 1G98.* 

Ebeling asserts that Upland was established as the chief 
place of a judicial district, in 1673. f We discover, however, 
that a Court was held here the previous year, and very pro- 
bably was erected soon after the acquisition of the territory 
by the English, in 1664. It sat at the houses of different 
inhabitants, and the magistrates seem to have suffered incon- 
venience from the want of a Court House. In 1677, Captain 
Hans Jurgin is ordered by the justices to fit up and finish the 
House of Defence at Upland, fit for the Court to sit in, against 
next Court.| 

It would be a matter of interest to know where this build- 
ing stood, and it is, perhaps, the same which is referred to in 
the following order: "Neils Laersen is directed to make or 

* Wade appears to have died without issue. He devised his estate to his 
nephew aud niece. See his will in Register's Office, at Philadelphia, 
f 1 Hazard's Register, 341. \ Upland Records. 



19 

leave a lane or street from Upland creek to the House of De- 
fence or Country House, before next Court, or be fined."* 

The want of a Court House was not the only trouble the 
honest magistrates encountered. The records furnish frequent 
evidence of their difficulty in securing revenue sufficient to 
keep the wheels of justice in motion ; and in 1680 the follow- 
ing summary order was made : " That for defraying the 
charges of this Court's sitting, each person shall pay yearly 
one scipple of wheat, or five gilders, according to former prac- 
tice ; and such as prove neglective to be fetched by the con- 
stable by way of restraynt."t 

We presume they meant the wheat was to be brought, and 
not the person, and that the officer of the law was properly 
enlightened as to the meaning of his superiors. 

It is to be regretted so little is known as to the manner in 
which justice was administered on the bay and river prior to 
the conquest by the English. As to the Swedes, we appre- 
hend that nearly all their judicial records perished, with other 
royal archives, in 1697, at the destruction of the palace at 
Stockholm. And we fear, as to the records of the Dutch, it 
is in vain to indulge the hope that the industry and good for- 
tune of Mr. Brodhcad have not secured all that will ever be 
obtained from Holland. It is quite likely, were it otherwise, 
that much might be ascertained as to the origin of existing 
features peculiar to the jurisprudence of this State. Certain 
it is, that several peculiarities might be named, which were 
borrowed by the English from the Dutch, and probably by the 
latter from the Swedes. 

In the instructions to Governor Printz, dated in 1642,| he 
is directed to decide all controversies " by the laws, customs, 
and usages of Sweden, and in other things to adopt and fol- 
low the laudable manners, customs, and usages of Sweden." 
From this it may be inferred that all judicial power was in- 
vested in the Governor, and that justice in these parts, which 
in its administration was more minute and domestic than would 

* Upland Records. f Ibid. j Hazard's Annals, 67. 



20 

be permitted at this day, was, so far as required by the simple 
condition of the people, dispensed at the palace of Governor 
Printz, upon the island of Tinicum. 

After the conquest by the Dutch, the judicial power upon 
the river, though somewhat less absolutely, appears to have 
been exercised also by the Governor ; for, in the instructions 
to Jacquet, he is empowered "to do justice, and administer 
it, eitlier in civil or military cases."* He was assisted by a 
Council, consisting of four persons, to which " he proposed 
all matters relative to police, justice, commerce," &;c. 

New Amstelf was, at one time, placed under a local and 
independent jurisdiction ; but, from subsequent instructions 
to Governor Beekman, in 1658, the administration of the law 
continued to be invested in the Governor.| The Swedes, at 
least those who swore allegiance to the Dutch, Avere still in a 
measure governed by their own officers. 

The English, on the acquisition of the territory, continued 
the magistrates in power for a limited time, and afterwards 
reappointed many of them in that capacity. The bay and river 
were at this, or within a short period, divided into three jurisdic- 
tions : that of the present Lewes, Newcastle, and Chester ; and 
the body of laws called the Duke's Laws, which was published in 
1664, at a general meeting at Hempsted, Long Island, under a 
commission from the Duke of York, was extended over the 
colony on our bay and river. The Court consisted of the 
justices of the peace of each jurisdiction, three of whom be- 
came a quorum, had power to act as a Court of Sessions, and 
to decide matters in law and equity. % All suits under a cer- 
tain sum, were determined without appeal, (which, when taken, 
was to the Court of Assizes, at New York,) and all under an- 
other sum without a jury, unless desired by the parties. 

Chester, from the descriptions which the Proprietary re- 
ceived of it in England, at one time arrested his attention as 
a proper place for his projected city ; for he directed his com- 

* Hazard's Annals, 205. f Newcastle. 

X Hazard's Annals, 221. § Ibid. 427. 



21 

missioners to sound the river, especially at "Upland," and to 
examine Chester creek, to ascertain if it was navigable, " at 
least for boats up into the country."* 

There are some interesting traditions as to the selection of 
a site for Philadelphia, which it may be well enough to notice 
in passing. According to Mr. Watson, (in his valuable Annals, 
and to whom all owe thanks for the preservation of that which 
but for his industry would have perished,) Pennsbury, Bristol, 
(then Buckingham,) the bank of the Delaware near the lower 
side of Poquessink creek,t were all examined as locations for 
the new city. As to Pennsbury J and Bristol, there is pretty 
strong evidence in support of the tradition. But it may by 
some be pronounced very improbable that the commissioners 
should venture to examine places so remote as those of Penns- 
bury and Bristol. 

A curious letter, however, from Laurie, Penn and others, 
Proprietors of West New Jersey, is given at length in Smith, § 
which would seem to show that more regard was had to in- 
ternal trade^ than to the advantages to commerce from near- 
ness to the ocean, and which renders it not at all improbable, 
that under the notions then prevailing, the distance of Penns- 
bury was not an objection, as compared with positions nearer 
the sea. 

In 1676, they instructed James Wasse, Richard Harts- 
horne, and Richard Guy,|| to choose a tract for a town upon 
some creek or bay on the eastern shore of the Delaware, "and 
up the river," we quote the words, "as far as a vessel of a 
hundred tons can go — for we intend to have a way cut across 
the country to Sandy Hook ; so the further up the way, the 
shorter." 

Very great importance would therefore appear to have 
been attached to the advantages of river communication with 
the interior of the country ; and was not the evidence beyond 
dispute, it would now scarcely be credited, that Penn believed 

* 2 Memoirs of Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 216. 

f 2 Proud. 259, note. % 1 Watson, p. 56. 

I History of New Jersey, p. 80. || Smith, 84. 



22 

the Schuylkill front of Philadelphia, was to become the more 
valuable, because both sides of the river were under his juris- 
diction.* 

We have already mentioned some of the preliminary steps, 
taken to establish his new government. His charter having 
been granted, his liberal concessions and noble array of poli- 
tical privileges set forth, he prepared, with many of his chosen 
friends of like religious persuasion, to enter upon his great 
experiment. 

They set sail with elevated hopes, but sickness and sorrow 
soon saddened their hearts : thirty of the one hundred who 
embarked perished from a contagious malady during their 
tedious voyage. t 

* The Proprietary, " expecting that must be the principal river, as having 
both sides of it in the same province, which I have several times heard him 
declare, were his first thoughts." — Statement made by James Logan, in his 
will, Book I., p. 516, Philadelphia. 

■}• It is to be regretted that there is no record of the names of those who ac- 
companied Penn. We are not aware even of an attempt to collect the scattered 
information on the subject ; but from sources hitherto unexplored we have 
been able to present an incomplete list of those whose names should not be per- 
mitted to die. Individuals doubtless have been omitted, with respect to 
whom the proof would have been sufficient had it been accessible. The task 
was the more difficult from the fact that tradition, generally unreliable, was 
particularly so in the present inquiry, inasmuch as it has handed down the 
names of some who came with our Founder, without designating whether 
upon his first visit, or his second in 1699. Another embarrassment also 
arose from the circumstance of twenty-three vessels having arrived in 1682. 

The principal sources of proof in preparing the subjoined list of eighty- 
eight persons who embarked, were found in the wills of Barber, Heriott, In- 
gram, and Wade, in the Register's Office at Philadelphia, and which were 
made on board the " Welcome," and all of whom probably died on board ; 
in a "Registry of Arrivals," in the Recorder's Office at Doylestown; and 
in "Comly's History of Byberry," 2d vol. of Memoirs of the Historical So- 
ciety of Pennsylvania. 

John Barber and Elizabeth his wife, eldest daughter of John Songhurst, of 
Shipley, county of Sussex, England, (See his will made on board "AV el- 
come,"' September 20, 1082, Will Book, A. p. 10,) was "a first purchaser." 

William Bradford, (See Dixon's Life of Penn, p. 208,) of Leicester, Eng- 



' Robert Greenaway, the master of the "Welcome," died 14th April, 1G86, (Adm. Book, A, 
p. 27, Philadelphia.) 



23 

What language therefore can adequately describe the grati- 
tude of the Founder and his companions, as the Welcome 
drew near and made fast in sight of the spot on "which we 

land, the earliest printer of the province. Engaging zealously in the Keithean 
controversy, "he took the side of the minority, and becoming unpopular on 
that account, in 1693 removed to New York, where, on IGth October, 1725, 
he established the " New York Gazette," the first newspaper published in 
that city, and after an active and useful life, died in 1752, aged 94. (2 
Thomas' Hist. Printing, pp. 7, 286, and Mr. Wharton's Notes on the Pro- 
vincial Literature of Pennsylvania. Mem. of Hist. Society.) 

William Buckman, Mary his wife, and children, Sarah and Mary, of the 
T^&\'\sh of Billinghurst, Sussex, (Registry of Arrivals). 

John Carver, and Mary his wife, of Hertfordshire, (see Comly's History 
of Byberry, in 2d vol. of Memoirs of Historical Society', p. 181,) suffered 
in 1681 in the persecution of the Quakers in England; (1 Besse, p. 196,) a 
first purchaser ; died in 1714. 

Benjamin Chambers, (mentioned in its probate as having with .John Song- 
hurst written the will of William Wade ;) of Rochester, Kent, (See " Friends' 
certificates from England, recorded at Philadelphia,') was sheriff in 1683, of 
the city and county of Philadelphia, and his name frequently appears as a 
participant in public affairs. (1 Col. Records, pp. 80, 57, 301, &c.) 

Thomas Chroasdale, and "Agnes his wife, and six children," of York- 
shire. (Certificate, dated 4 month, .June, 1682, of Settle Monthly Meeting, 
Yorkshire, Comly's Byberry, 2 Memoirs Historical Society, p. 182, in note.) 
On the authority of Mr. Robert Wain, Mr. Comly states tliat those whose 
names were embraced in that certificate, came in the "Welcome." 

Ellen Cowgill, "and family." (Certificate from Settle Monthly Meeting.) 

John Fisher, Margaret his wife, and son John. (On authority of papers 
in possession of Mr. Thomas Gilphin, of Philadelphia.) 

Thomas Fitzwater, and sons Thomas and George, of Hamworth, Middle- 
sex. His wife Mary, and children Josiah and Mai'y, died on the passage. 
(See Registry of Arrivals.) Settled in county of Bucks, and was a member 
of Assembly from that county in 1683 ; active in public life, a valuable citi- 
zen and eminent minister in his society. Died 6th October, 1699. (1 Proud, 
p. 422 ) 

Thomas Gillett. (Witness to will of John Barber.) 

Cuthbert Hayhurst, "his wife and family." (Certificate from Settle 
Meeting.) Suffered in 1661 and 1668 on account of his religious principles. 
(1 Besse, 571 ; 2 do. 102 ) A first purchaser. Born at Easington, in Bol- 
land, Yorkshire; died in Bucks, 5th March, 1682-3, aged 50. (Collection of 
Memorials, p. 1-) 

Thomas Heriott of Hurst-Pier-Point, Sussex. (See Nuncupative will 
declared on board "Welcome," 19th September, 1682, Book A, p. 4.) Snf- 



'We are indebted for a copy of these, to Mr. James S. Lippincott. 



24 

are now assembled. They land before the house of good 
Robert Wade, their fellow sufferer in the cause of truth, 
Penn's friend in England, and who, as we have seen, by 

fered in England on account of his religious principles. (1 Besse, 721.) 
A first purchaser. 

John Hey. (Registry of Arrivals.) 

RiCHABD Ingelo. (Witncss to the will of Isaac Ingram.) Was clerk of 
ProT. Council in 168-5. (1 Col. Rec. 81.) 

Isaac Ingram of Gatton, Surry. (See will made 26th September, 1G82, 
onboard " Welcome," Book A, p. 11.) Suffered on account of his religious 
principles. (1 Besse, 699.) 

Giles Knight, Mary his wife and son, Joseph, of Gloucestershire. Set- 
tled in Bucks, and died November, 1726, in his 74th year. (Comly's By- 
berry, 179.) 

William Lushington. (Witness to the will of William Wade.) 

Hannah Mogdkidge. (Registry of Arrivals.) 

Joshua Morris. (Witness to will of Thomas Heriott.) 

David Ogden. (Witness to will of Thomas Heriott.) Probably from 
London. (See Records of Friends' certificates. ) 

Evan Oliver, with Jean his wife, and children David, Elizabeth, John, 
Hannah, Mary, Evan, and Seaborn, of Radnorshire, AVales. The last, "a 
daughter born at sea, October 24th, 1682, almost -yvithin sight of the capes 
of Delaware." (MS. Record in possession of Mr. Merrit Canby.) 

Pearson. Stated by Clarkson, vol. 1, p. 259, to have acccompanied 

Penn, and that name of Upland was changed at his request to that of Ches- 
ter, from which city he came. We have not ascertained his first name, though 
we find a Thomas Pearson returned as a member of Assembly from county 
of Newcastle, 16th October, 1700. (1 Col. Rec. 590.) But as this Thomas 
was probably the same who had an interest in West Jersey, and who was 
from Bonwicke, Yorkshire, (1 Proud, 143, in note,) it was more likely " Ro- 
bert," of Cheshire, a Friend, and mentioned in 1 Besse, 105. An Edward 
Peirson resided at Darby, and previously to 1698 removed to Bucks. 

John Rowland and Priscilla his wife, of Billinghurst, Sussex. (Registry 
of Arrivals.) A first purchaser. 

Thomas Rowland, also oi Billinghurst, Sussex. (Registry of Arrivals.) A 
first purchaser ; died November, 1708. 

John Sharples, of Ratherton county, Chester, Jane his wife, and 
children, Phebe, John, James, Caleb, Jane and Joseph, Thomas died at sea. 
Papers in possession of Mr. Benjamin Ferris, of Wilmington. A first pur- 
chaser, settled near Chester. 

John Songhubst, (See probate to will of William Wade,) from Chilling- 
ton, Sussex, (see list of first purchasers,) and Whiting says of Coneyhurst, 
Sussex, but more likely of Hitching field, Sussex, and who sutiTered for Lis 
religious views. (1 Besse, 715, 719.) A warm friend of the Proprietary: 



25 

seven years preceded him, under whose hospitable roof they are 
received and sheltered. The faithful Markham was doubt- 
less there to welcome him ; he had already served, and lived 
still longer to serve, with satisfaction and ndelity. 

It was upon Sunday, the 29th* day of October, 0. S., 

a member of first Assembly held at Pliiladelphia, and of subsequent Assem- 
blies. (1 Votes, 7, 34, 46.) A writer in defence of the Quakers, and emi- 
nent minister in his Society. (Whiting's Catalogue, 160.) Died, 1688. (1 
Proud, 237.) 

John Stackhouse and Margery his wife, of Yorkshire. (Certificate of 
Settle Meeting.) 

George Thompson. (Witness to wills of Heriott, Barber, Ingram, and 
Wade.) 

RiCHAED TowNSEND, wife Auue, and son James "born on Welcome," in 
Del. River. (Abingdon Records.) "A person of an approved character." 
(1 Proud, 228.) Of London. (List of first purchasers.) An eminent min- 
ister in his Society, and' died in May, 1737. (CoUec. Mem. 102.) 

William Wade, of parish of Hankton, Sussex. (See will made 20th Sep- 
tember, 1682, on "Welcome," A, p. 13.) 

Thomas Walmesly, " Elizabeth his wife and six children," of Yorkshire. 
(Certificate of Settle Meeting.) Died, October, 1754, aged about 80. (Comly's 
Byberry, 183.) 

Nicholas Waln, of Yorkshire. (Certificate of Settle Meeting.) A mem- 
ber from Bucks of first Assembly held at Philadelphia, and of subsequent 
Assemblies ; prominent in early history of province ; a first purchaser ; died 
August, 1744. 

Joseph Woodroofe. (Witness to will of John Barber.) 

Thomas Wbightsworth "and wife," of Yorkshire. (Certificate from 
Settle Meeting.) 

Thomas AVynne, " Chirurgeon," of Caerwys, Flintshire, North Wales. 
(Witness to will of Thomas Heriott.) Speaker of the first two Assemblies 
held at Philadelphia ; afterwards a member in 1687 and 1688. A magistrate 
for county Sussex. Wrote several tracts in defence of his Society, (Whit- 
ing's Cat. 206,) and was, says Proud, (vol. 1, p. 287) " a person of note and 
character." Chestnut street, in Philadelphia, was originally named after 
him; died March, 1691-2. 

* The authority for this is Penn's letter to Herman, dated " Upland, 29th 
of 8th month, 1682 ;" Hazard's Annals, 599. But since the above was written, 
the writer, through the kindness of Mr. Benjamin Ferris, has received a 
copy of the following memorandum from a MS. book of Evan Oliver, a pas- 
senger in the Welcome: " Wee arrived at Upland in Pensilvania, in America, 
ye 28th of ye 8th month, '82." There is no proof that Penn landed at Up- 
land on the 28th, it is possible that Oliver, by land or otherwise, at 
once proceeded there, and did not remain at Newcastle. With, however, a 
favorable wind and tide, if the formalities of the surrender at Newcastle 



26 

1682, the first day of the week, that they landed; when, 
with hearts full of gratitude, the little band at once proceeded 
to the house of Wade, where the religious meetings of the 
Society had been held, and gave thanks for their safe deli- 
verance from sickness, death, the perils of the deep, and the 
persecutions of their native land. 

The feebleness of the Dutch and Swedish colonies, after an 
existence of more than half a century, as compared with the 
rapid increase and prosperity of the settlement of Pennsyl- 
vania, was owing to several causes. Both were military colo- 
nies, both were engaged in continual disputes, and both 
wanted a steady and vigorous administration. The growth 
of the Dutch was impeded by the slightness of the accessions 
to their number, by their dependence on New Amsterdam, 
and by the unwise policy of the Dutch West India Company. 
The want of a cordial support from home, at the period when 
they most needed it, retarded the advancement of the Swedes. 
In justice let it be said, however, that the rapid progress made 
under the Proprietary was, in some measure, owing to the 
pre-existence of these colonies. They peopled the country. 
The shore from some distance above Bristol to the Capes had 
been purchased of the Indians, and was, in many parts, under 
cultivation. And as to the Swedes, a pious and industrious 
people, advocates of religious liberty, and friends of the Indian, 
they had done much to prepare the way for our founder.* 

permitted, it may have been in the power of Penn to have reached Upland, 
and as he probably did, during the afternoon or evening of the 28th. As 
the next was the first day of the week, it would have been natural that he 
should have felt the wish to have done so. It is to be hoped, since many 
unpublished letters of Penn and his companions must yet exist, that this 
note may elicit the desired information. 

* At the period of the acquisition of the province by Penn, the region 
from Chester to the Neshaminy, and still further northwards to an undefined 
extent, was called the " Upland jurisdiction." The whole number of tax- 
ables within its limits, and which included every male inhabitant of twenty- 
one years, amounted, in November, 1677, to 126 souls, who were, with but 
few exceptions, all Swedes. The country from the mouth of the Schuylkill, 
northwardly was called Taoconink, (Tacony,) and contained 65 taxables. 

The tax levied was twenty-six gilders on every freeman, and was, we pre- 
sume, principally devoted to the support of the Courts, and the extinction of 



27 

He came, and soon won the confidence and affection of 
Indians, Swedes, and Dutch. They gathered around him — 
he brought the scattered elements into union, and the little 
colony became an infant nation. They saw in him a ruling 
spirit — they felt safe in his hands — they looked up to him aa 
to a father, and were profoundly impressed with the humanity, 
the goodness, the wisdom, and the greatness of his character. 
Having, almost immediately after his arrival, called the peo- 
ple together, the first Assembly within our borders was held 
in this place, and in a building which we regret should have 
perished. 

To our mind there is something sublime in this prompt ac- 
knowledgment by the Proprietary of the fountain of all power 
— the people. He presents his body of laws, some of which 
were derived from the Duke's Laws, and some had doubtless 
been suggested by Sidney. All, however, were marked by a 
spirit of wisdom and humanity. The preamble is, in our 

wild animals, as the cost of opening roads appears to have been a charge on 
all; for, by an order of Court, " every person" was "required to make good 
and passable roads, with bridges where needed, from neighbor to neighbor, 
so that neighbors may come together." All notices of the description just 
referred to, as they had no Court House at that period, were published by 
being posted on the doors of the only two churches in this region — the 
Swedish churches at Tinicura and Wicaco. In 1G93, and it is to be regret- 
ted we have no earlier enumeration of the people under the Proprietaiy, the 
Swedisli population had considerably increased, for at that time there were 
in the province 188 Swedish families, composed of 907 individuals. So that 
counting from the year 1700, and allowing thirty years as a generation, 
there are, at this moment in our midst, according to the usual compu- 
tation of iJescents, nearly 300,000 persons of Swedish ancestry. 

In 1(393 the entire tax levied for the Province and the three lower counties 
was £760 16s. 2c?., Pennsylvania currency. This was a tax of a penny in 
the pound, on the clear value of real and personal estate, and of six shillings 
upon e-very freeman not owning real estate, and was devoted to the sup- 
port of the government of the Province. It was distinct from the tax levied 
for county purposes by the Court, upon presentation by a grand jury, the 
assessment for which was placed at one pound per acre, Pennsylvania cur- 
rency, and £10 per hundred acres, for untilled land "by the river," and £5 
for that "in the woods," upon which valuation was levied one penny in the 
pound. This was taxation when an infant, and all must wish it had remained 
such, instead of becoming the giant which it has. 



28 

opinion, one of the noblest compositions on record ; condensed, 
yet comprehensive, it sets forth, in nervous language, the ori- 
gin and objects of governments, and points out the true source 
whence power proceeds, and for what ends it should be ex- 
ercised. 

Chester can never make a nobler boast, than that within 
Aer limits Avas first proclaimed, upon the soil of Pennsylvania, 
this great declaration of republican liberty. Here are the 
words ; 

" Whereas, the glory of God Almighty, and the good of 
mankind, are the reason and end of government, and there- 
fore government itself is a venerable ordinance of God, and 
forasmuch as it is principally desired and intended by the Pro- 
prietary, and governor and freemen of the province of Penn- 
sylvania, and the territories thereunto belonging, to make and 
establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christian and 
civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and 
unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Caesar his 
due, and the people their due, from tyranny and oppression 
on the one side, and insolency and licentiousness on the other ; 
so that the best and firmest foundation may be laid for the 
present and future happiness of both the governor and the 
people of this province and territories, and their posterity. 
Be it enacted," &c. 

The stay of the Proprietary at this time was too brief for 
his own interests, and those of his colonists. But he remained 
long enough to leave the impress of wise legislation. 

His devotion to the principles of peace Avith all men — his 
hatred of superstition and religious persecution — and his hu- 
manity to the Indian, were in grateful contrast with the con- 
duct of other colonies. As to his uniform treatment of the 
Indians, we regard the fact that not one of that race was ever 
known to shed, within our borders, the blood of a member of 
the Society of Friends, except in two instances, Avhere there 
was reason to suppose they had forsaken their peaceful prin- 
ciples, as a signal proof of the soundness of his policy towards 
them. 



29 

The poet writes no less truly tlian touchinglj, when lie 
says : — 

" Oft, Pilgrim Land ! thy rock-bound coast, 

Echoed the sound of fears. 
Hudson ! thy savage heeded not 

Thy blue-eyed maiden's tears. 
And Powhatan's oft sorrowing eyes 

Gazed on thy purpled flood ; 
But never Indian death-shaft drank 

One drop of Quaker blood." 

Penn's regard was not conJSned to the prosperity of his own 
province, but v/as manifested for the welfare of all. In 1697, 
in one of the most remarkable papers on record, and which 
is attributed to him, he proposed an union of the colonies for 
their common peace and safety. We are aware we trench 
upon an embarrassing question, with regard to his sentiments 
as to defensive war, but whatever they may have been at any 
other period than at the date of this plan, no prouder testi- 
mony of comprehensiveness of intellect, and far-reaching sa- 
gacity could be presented than to have been its author. 

The original,* which is referred to by Chalmersf as the 
scheme of Penn, and which, he says, was not favorably re- 
ceived by the ministers, the peers, or the public, is in the 
State Paper OflEice, at London.* Many of the phrases, and 
some of the objects which, one hundred years afterwards, 
were set forth, in our present Constitution, will arrest the at- 
tention of the student of our history. 

" A brief and plain scheme, how the English colonies in 
the north parts of America, viz., Boston, Connecticut, New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina, may be made more 

* We are indebted to Mr. John Cadwalader for a copy of this document. 

t Vol. i. p. 272. 

J In the "Catalogue of Papers Relating to Pennsylvania and Delaware, 
deposited at the State Paper Office, London," published in the Memoirs 
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. iv. part 2, p. 265, it is noticed 
as follows: "1696-7, February 8, Mr. Penn's Scheme for rendering the 
Northern Colonies of America, more useful to England." (Original not 
signed.)— Plant. Gen. B. T. V. 4. A. 40. (6 folios.) 



30 

useful to the CroTrn, and one another's peace and safety, ^vith 
an universal concurrence. 

"1st. That the several colonies hefore mentioned, do meet 
once a year, and oftener, if need he, during the war, and at 
least once in two years in times of peace, hy their stated and 
appointed deputies, to dehate and resolve of such measures as 
are most advisable for their better understandiuir, and the 
public tranquillity and safety. 

2. That in order to it, two persons well qualified for 
sense, sobriety and substance, be appointed by each Province, 
as their representatives or deputies, which in the whole make 
the Congress to consist of twenty persons. 

3. That the King's Commissioner for that purpose spe- 
cially appointed, shall have the chair and preside in the said 
Congress. 

■4. That they shall meet as near as conveniently may be, to 
the most central colony for ease of the deputies. 

5. Since that may in all probability be New York, both 
because it is near the centre of the colonies, and for that it 
is a frontier and in the King's nomination ; the governor of 
that colony may, therefore, also being the King's High Com- 
missioner, preside during the session, after the manner of 
Scotland. 

6. That their business shall be to hear and adjust all 
matters of complaint or difference, between Province and 
Province. 

As 1st, where persons quit their own province and go to 
another, that they may avoid their just debts, though they 
may be able to pay them. 

2d. TVhere offenders fly justice, or justice cannot well be 
had upon such offenders in the provinces that entertain them. 

3d. To prevent or cure injuries in point of commerce. 

4th. To consider of ways and means to support the union 
and safety of their provinces against the public enemies. In 
which Congress, the quotas of men and charges, will be much 
easier and more equally set, than it is possibly for any estab- 



31 

lishment made here to do. For tlie provinces knoivin^ their 
own condition, and one another's, can debate that matter with 
more freedom and satisfaction, and better adjust and balance 
their affairs in all respects for the common safety. 

7th. That in times of war, the King's High Commissioner 
shall be General or Chief Commander, of the several quotas 
upon service against the common enemy, as he shall be ad- 
vised for the good benefit of the whole." 

Such was the sagacious plan, by which he proposed to bind 
the colonies together. He was nearly a hundred years ia 
advance of his age. TVhen the prophet, in a vision of the 
night, read the dream of the King of Babylon, he saw the 
import of that great Image, whose "brightness" was excel- 
lent, and form terrible, but which with all its strength of 
iron, of brass, and of silver, was to be broken into pieces, and 
become as the chaff of the summer threshing floor, while that 
which was to destroy it, was to become a great mountain, 
and fill the earth, emblematic of a nation that should spring 
up, " never to be destroyed nor left to other people," but 
which should consume kingdoms, and stand forever. 

But it could not be vouchsafed to Penn, to a mere mortal, 
to behold the crumbling of a mighty power upon this conti- 
nent, from whose ruins should arise, that colossal figure of 
symmetry and strength, which now overshadows a hemisphere ! 

Let it be our fervent prayer, that it, too, " may stand for- 
ever !" 

Kearly a century and a half after common consent had 
assigned Penn, the position of a good, wise, and great man, 
it is suddenly demanded, that we should reverse the decision 
of history. The records of the past are so thinly scattered 
with the names of those who have done honor to their race, 
that we cannot agree to blot them out without a struggle. 
He whose life had been a series of virtuous actions, and whose 
noble nature, imprisonment could not terrify, privations un- 
nerve, ingratitude provoke, nor temptation, greater than that 
to which it is alleged he yielded, entice, it would be supposed 



32 

had laid up a character upon earth that could not easily he 
assailed. But he has not lacked defenders. 

The errors and the prejudice of the brilliant historian, have 
been signally proved and rebuked. 

The history of the Province, in its relation to the interests 
and happiness of Penn, is a melancholy one. It touches the 
heart. The strife between his deputies and the Assembly — 
the ingratitude, unjust and grasping spirit of the people — the 
misrepresentation of his best intentions and most prudent 
measures — the machinations of his enemies. Quarry, Lloyd, 
and their adherents — his difficulties with Lord Baltimore — 
the consequences of his misplaced confidence in his fraudulent 
agents, the Fords — his distressing pecuniary embarrassments — 
the constant threats of taking his government from him — the 
political persecutions which he underwent in England — in 
short, the incidents of his troubled career from the day on 
which he landed here, until a merciful Providence clouded 
his intellect, and dulled the sharpness of his sorrows, form as 
painful a picture as was ever presented to the eye of sympa- 
thizing humanity. 

Would that history recorded another story. 

When Sir Christopher Wren beheld the result of his con- 
ceptions, as the last block found its resting place, and the 
glorious fabric of St. Paul's rose before him in all its majesty 
of column, entablature, and dome, his proud heart swelled 
within him as he gazed and wept, and gazed and wept. But 
how much purer and more exalted must have been the emo- 
tions of Penn, as he traced the last lines of his immortal 
charter, and made sure the liberties of millions then and yet 
unborn; and which when the great master work of the British 
architect will have sunk into the dust, shall cause civilized 
man in ages and in lands remote to rise and call him blessed. 
Let us, therefore, forget his sorrows, and feel assured that had 
it, by some miraculous interposition been permitted, that he 
should have seen his trials in sad array before him, but at the 



APPENDIX. 



The Historical Society of Pennsylvania having re- 
solved to celebrate the one hundred and sixty-ninth anniver- 
sary of the Landing of Penn at Chester, met for the pur- 
pose at that place, on the 8th of November, 1851, when Mr. 
Armstrong delivered the foregoing address, in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church ; after which, having visited the spot where 
the Founder landed, and also the site of the "Essex House," 
the Society dined together at "Price's Hotel," where Mr. 
William Rawle took the head of the table as President of 
the day, assisted, as Vice President, by Alfred Langdon 
Elwyn, M.D. 

The Rev. Dr. Balch and Mr. John M. Broomall of Ches- 
ter ; Henry R. Schoolcraft, LL.D. of Washington ; Hon. 
William Huffington and Mr. Benjamin Ferris of Wilmington, 
Delaware ; and Mr. John F. Watson of Germantown, were 
present as invited guests. 

After the removal of the cloth, the following regular toasts 
were drunk, which were responded to by several of the invited 
guests and members of the Society. 

1 . The Memory of William Penn. 

2. The Pilgrim Fathers of Pennsylvania, men of clear 
heads and sound hearts, who granted to others the religious 
liberty which they sought for themselves. 

3. "Upland" — Prosperity to the ancient borough, the spot 
where first our Founder set his foot upon the soil of Penn- 
sylvania. 



36 

4. The State of Delaware. The memory of our common 
origin must ever endear to us the inhabitants of the " Three 
Lower Counties." 

5. The Swedish and Dutch settlers upon the Delaware. 
The memory of their virtues is part of the heritage of Penn- 
sylvania. 

6. The Treaty under the Elm — unsanctioned by an oath 
and never broken. 

7. Our beloved Commonwealth. May community of prin- 
ciples and feelings unite all her sons, from Delaware to Erie, 
and Wayne to Green. 

8. The Founders of the Society. Honor to the memory 
of those who are gone ; health and prosperity to the living. 

9. Our sister Historical Societies throughout the Union. 

10. The health of Mr. William Hepworth Dixon, of Lon- 
don, who has, with the light of truth, dissipated the Scotch 
mist of prejudice. 



jB^P" Since this Address -went to press, the writer, through the 
kinduess of Mr. Joshua Francis Fisher, has been placed in posses- 
sion of a "Registry of Arrivals," in which the names of the fol- 
lowing additional persons are recorded as having sailed in the 
" Welcome," making ninety-five of the one hundred who embarked ; 
and as two individuals are mentioned in the foi'egoiug note at p. 
22, as having sailed with their "families," the list is probably 
comijlete. 

Baktholomew Green. 

Nathaniel Harrison, 

Thomas Jones. 

Jeane Mathews. 

Dennis Rochford, of Emstorfey, county of Wexford, Ireland, 
and wife Mary, daughter of Johu Heriott of Hurst-Pier-Point ; 
daughters Grace and Mary died at sea. 

William Smith. 

Hannah, daughter of Richard Townsend. 



ERRATA. 

At page 23, for " Gilphin," read " Gilpin." 

" 24, for " Ratherton county, Chester, read "Ratherton, 

county Chester. 
" 25, for " ilaj savage," read " the" savage. 
" ^^ Powhatan's" read "Powhatan." 







¥m^^H^^: 



